Four Hour Sleep Week
Are You Ready?
Sacrifice
+
Action
=
Success
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Foreword
Firstly, I want to be sure that you understand that in no way does this book
intend for you to work on four hours of sleep each week. The title is totally a
play off 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, which I purchased and read last year.
It is a great book, and I recommend it to anyone that is looking to increase
productivity. However, when you are just starting out with building an online
business, count on putting the 4hr Work Week in the back of your mind…
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You cannot create an online business on autopilot. I have seen so many try,
and they ALL fail. There is no “get rich quick” way to build a successful online
business. If that is what you are looking for, I am sorry you purchased this
eBook, send me an email immediately saying that is what you were looking for
and I will refund you the money you paid. If you are looking to build something
tangible, and are willing to work hard to achieve success, then you have come
to the right place!
I hope you enjoy reading this book, and if you have any questions or
comments, please feel free to email me personally: [email protected]
Come with me on a journey that explains how I became a professional blogger.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Table of Contents
The Background
5
Sacrifice
11
Housing Crisis
13
Starting Over
15
Products
19
Part Time
20
Gain Knowledge
37
Fast Forward
43
Sacrifice and Action
45
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Four Hour Sleep Week
The Background
I started blogging in 2008 for a variety of reasons. I had lost my job as a
sales manager for a fence company in Raleigh, NC. Due to downsizing
within the company, the owner decided he would do my job and I wouldn’t
be needed anymore.
I found myself, with a young family to support, wondering what to do next.
The owner of the company I had worked for suggested I start my own fence
contracting business.
Having had business experience in the past, I talked it over with my wife,
and decided to go for it. We knew it would be a steep climb uphill to begin
making money with my new business, but because I had been very
successful my previous business ventures, we decided that it was a good
move.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
While going through my research, I got involved everywhere I could. I had
hired a designer to build a new site for the fence company I was working for
and I was already blogging on a free Wordpress.com site I had created, which
was showing better search results than my boss’ 2 year old web site! Here is
an article the designer I hired wrote about the new site and the results we
were getting: click here and below is an image of the original wordpress.com
site I made:
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Four Hour Sleep Week
When my boss decided to let me go, they owed me quite a bit of money in
commissions (hey, I am a good sales manager too!), and offered to give me
the site we were building for the company to use when I started my own
company as partial payment (he had already bought the domain I had
recommended and paid the designer) I decided to take the offer, and you can
read about some of how this happened at the designer’s site here, and see an
image of the completed site below (much better than my original site!):
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Four Hour Sleep Week
The mistake my boss made was that he misjudged how fast I was going to
grow and dominate the search engines with my newly designed Wordpress
blog.
Research:
I spent many, many hours researching how I could use blogging to promote my
newly formed business. Not having any real experience with websites or
anything else online, I hired a trusted family friend to build my site.
The site was built, and I immediately began writing articles relating to my
business, created pages describing different products and services we
offered, and started finding ways to promote my new website and business.
Within one month, I was on the front page for my main keyword, and within 3
months I had a PR3 blog with over 2,000 links, top search rankings for over a
dozen terms I was targeting, and was getting almost 3k unique (and targeted
visitors) a month. Unfortunately, the fence business has a buying season, and
it was the end of the season, so I would have to wait 3 more months before
seeing any real profits, but I was able to stay afloat through that time.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Promoting:
Write and promote, rinse and repeat… So, began my extensive journey. My
days were filled with trying to write an article everyday (not too easy with
that niche), research the ways to promote my blog, and begin learning about
social networking online.
This is where I ran into a wall. I was spending 16+ hours in front of a laptop
trying to get my brand out there for people to see. I found out, there wasn’t
any other “fence” bloggers, and I was literally getting laughed at by my
competitors.
On top of that, there was still no money coming in. Needless to say, this was
causing a problem at home (which was also where my office was located). I
had tried traditional forms of advertising, sending out direct mailers, phone
book ads, and other similar types of offline advertising. I got literally no
results and was running out of money.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
This carried on for almost 6 months, and home life was seriously suffering
because of it. I contemplated giving up. I am thankful now that I am hard
headed and didn’t give up!
Success:
Finally, after a long winter, sales started coming in. I had stayed my course
regardless of what people said, and continued to work long hours, blogging
away and learning my way around Social Networking sites.
I had positioned myself in the top 3 for over a dozen local search terms on
Google, and it was now going to pay off! How did I do it? I worked long hours,
and never gave up. It never crossed my mind that my venture would be easy,
and would be able to sit back on some island sipping drinks while checks
rolled in. I knew, from being a business owner in the past, that I would have
to work twice as hard as when I had regular jobs.
I was successful for many reasons, but mainly I think it was sheer
determination and sacrifice that propelled my success:
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Sacrifice
I made sacrifices, and my family made sacrifices. As with any business, it
takes motivation, sacrifice, and hard work to become successful. I had used
those 6 months to educate myself on everything from SEO, to SMM, to
Wordpress, and all points in between. Do you think I did that by only working
at it part time?
I regularly put in 80hr weeks before I started making sales doing that
“internet thing”, as my family liked to put it. I think they thought I was
building porn sites or something! It is hard to explain to your family that you
are a blogger.
The sales were coming in on a regular basis, I had hired people to perform the
installations for me (so I could continue blogging of course!) and life was
going great! I was still working 6 days a week, because on top of what I was
already doing to promote and maintain my website, I had to maintain all the
other aspects of my business (estimates, purchasing, billing, scheduling etc).
So now I was working even more hours! But it was worth it, I was getting over
$50k in sales on a monthly basis now.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
The sacrifices were paying off BIG! But I was still working 12-16hrs a day, 6
days a week. Why? Because I knew that I had to continue maintaining a blog
on my company website, I knew there was always something new to learn
related to my blogging. I knew that the same things that got me to that point
(relentless blogging and promotion) would keep me there!
I continued on the same path, was dominating my search terms, and was
getting increased sales numbers on a monthly basis, what else could I ask for!
All thanks to blogging!
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Housing Crisis:
Fast forward to mid 2009, and the housing crisis had put a big damper on my
sales. While I was still doing well with sales, it wasn’t growing anymore. I
tried to look into the future of my business and see where I could take a
home improvement type business that could withstand this downturn in the
economy.
I had built up a good working relationship with the manufacturers of my
products, and one of them suggested I start a distributorship. This seemed
like a pretty good idea, and possibly a good move for me.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
I started talking with a few people I knew in the business, and found out
fast that it would take a lot of cash to start a traditional brick and mortar
style fence distributorship, much more cash than I had. The manufacturers
wanted me to purchase truckloads of their products, along with having a big
enough place to store it (in a high traffic location); I could see that I wasn’t
anywhere close to having enough money to do that. I put my idea on the
back burner.
I continued to keep my business going, even though all of my data I was
gathering pointed towards a major downturn for my industry. It was still
providing me a solid income, and the bills were getting paid.
A few months later, I realized that I had looked at how to create my
distributorship all wrong. Why hadn’t I remembered exactly what worked
for me with my current business? Why hadn’t I remembered what it took to
market my offline business online? Why couldn’t I do it on a broader scale?
I had built my offline business up using nothing but blogging as a form of
promotion! Could I do it again? Yes I could. I just needed to concentrate on
the how, and make a plan for action.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Time To Start Over
With the construction industry falling apart under the housing crisis and
downed economy not helping any, I had to make a decision SOON. I was at a
critical point as a small business owner and a blogger.
As the fence season neared an end in late 2009, I decided to sell my websites
(I had built several) and contracting business to move forward with my
distributorship idea.
I began sending emails out to my competitors letting them know I was getting
out. I also offered the company to one of my employees. Within a month, I
had an offer, and I took it.
It wasn’t an easy decision to sell out of my business. Looking back at it, my
timing couldn’t have been better though. Because the company sold so fast, I
found myself scrambling to make my idea a reality. I had already purchased
my new domain and I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
What I didn’t like, was that my income was gone, and I knew it could take me
up to a year to gain traction with my new venture. It was time to work even
harder than I had ever worked before.
Rather than build a brick and mortar distributorship, I decided I was going to
build an online distributorship. This would do a couple of things for me.
Broaden my reach of customers to an entire country, and eliminate the need
to hold an inventory.
For me, the concept was clear. I had already discussed my idea with some
fence manufacturers, and they were willing to sell me the merchandise at
wholesale prices, as well as drop ship directly to my customers! I would mark
up the products as I wanted, get paid up front, and never have to touch the
products!
I had my work cut out for me; I was entering a nationwide market now, not
just local searches anymore. So, I knew I was going to have to work much
harder to get my site ranked for more competitive keywords, but I was
confident I could do it!
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Working from early mornings (I get up between 5 and 6am) until late at night
(many times after midnight) in front of my computer. I built page after page of
content for my products. I began an extensive SEO campaign. And in the
middle of this, I decided for some strange reason, I would start a blog about
blogging too!
I spent several months in “development” phase of my business. I had already
built a good relationship with the manufacturers, because I had been buying
from them for almost 2yrs already. I also had plenty of product knowledge
since I had 5yrs experience in that industry (sales and installations). All of this
keeps in line with one of my personal rules for blogging as a business; write
about what you have experience in! Since I was going into a much more
competitive part of my niche, I knew I had to do even more research.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
I started thinking like a consumer and began doing searches on Google for sites
that I would be competing with. The information I gathered from these sites
would be the backbone of my business plan:
• What were their products (brands and styles)
• Pricing (could I compete?)
• Site design (typically standard e-commerce)
• SEO (were my competitors good at it?)
• Target Market (who would I be targeting)
After spending weeks gathering information, I felt I had a good handle on what
products I needed to offer, whether or not I could compete with their prices,
what information I needed to have on my site, and what keywords to target.
I felt confident that I could do this now. Yes, it was going to be a longer road (I
thought) because of the more competitive niche. And, what I mean by more
competitive niche, I was going after national searches now instead of just
local searches. The terms are much more competitive. I would need to work
much harder to make it to the front page of these terms.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Products
I have always maintained (and probably always will) that products are a better
income generator than ads on websites. You can target very specific “buy”
keywords and the traffic you get (if you have done proper SEO) and you don’t
need even 1% of the traffic numbers to make a good income!
What I don’t understand, is why bloggers insist on bucking that method. Yes, it
can be more work in the beginning because you don’t just write some articles
and wait for traffic to come by and click on ads. But I can take a site that has
only 1000 unique visitors per month and make the same as one of those MFA’s
(made for adsense) sites that gets 100,000 unique visitors a month. And I can
do it in less than 6 months. Seems like a no brainer to me.
It is easier to promote actual products, and it is easier to target keywords that
people will be searching that will give them what they are looking for. Find a
need, and fill it!
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Part Time
Most of the bloggers I speak with that are struggling with “breaking out” of
the regular 9-5 mention several things that stand out to me. It sometimes
appears as if they are making excuses instead of solving problems. Identify the
problem, don’t make excuses, then you can solve the problem. If you are
lacking money, sacrifice somewhere else. If you are lacking time, sleep less. If
you are lacking knowledge, educate yourself. Stop looking for reasons you
can’t do it, and knock down the barriers.
Is it possible to become a professional blogger on part time hours? I guess
anything is possible. It is also possible to get a 2 year college degree part
time. It might take 4-6yrs to get it though!
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Four Hour Sleep Week
When I set out to become a professional blogger, I went after it with
everything I had. I held nothing back, and nothing was going to stop me. I
didn’t try to do it on a part time schedule; I worked 80+ hours every week
(and still do most weeks). What I am saying is, if you have a regular 9-5 job
still you have to be willing to put in the hours on top of that. That means that
most evenings and weekends will be spent writing and promoting. Ask yourself
if you are willing to make real sacrifices to achieve your dreams and goals
before you start. If you have already started, are you making the sacrifices?
If you are REALLY serious, then you will understand what I am saying here. You
can’t do this on a part time basis and expect things to happen like they would
if you were spending the time needed to build trust and community. There are
NO shortcuts.
I am not saying that you have to quit your full time job, what I am saying is
that you will have to be willing to put time and money into building a
legitimate online business.
I asked a few of my fellow professional bloggers and internet marketers about
“sacrifice” and here are their responses:
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Mike Cliffe-Jones
One of thirty bloggers to watch in 2010, according to Problogger, Mike is a
full time blogger and author, his blog is MikesLife.org. When I asked Mike
about what sacrifices were needed, he responded:
I despise the people who lead others to believe that you can build an online
business with a few hours work per day. It's no truer of working online than it
is of a conventional business. In fact, in most cases, it's harder, because many
people choose to start their online business whilst working in their existing
jobs.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
My own experience is that I was lucky enough to be able to start online full
time. But there was so much to learn, and so much to do, that I was often
working over 100 hours a week in the early days, starting early, finishing late,
and working over the weekend as well. You don't have to put those kinds of
hours in, but I wanted to create a full time income in less than a year, and I
managed it through that kind of work schedule. But however you look at it,
the harder you work, the faster you will begin to reap the rewards.
I also have a notion that you have to post a great deal in the early days in
order to achieve some kind of "escape velocity" for a new blog, and to allow it
to rise up from all the other new ones.
During my research for a book, I interviewed 15 of the world's most successful
bloggers, and every single one of them, without exception, started their
online businesses by working extremely hard. Pete Cashmore, owner of
Mashable, which is one of the largest and arguably the most profitable blog in
the world, started his business from his parents house, and worked 15 to 16
hours a day, sometimes writing 20 posts in a single day.
You cannot achieve online success without some level of sacrifice, but it will
reap a just reward over time.
-Mike Cliffe-Jones
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Nathan Hangen
Nathan has so many things going on for him, I couldn’t even begin to tell you
about all of them, but he has been featured on TwiTip, ProBlogger, David
Risley, and CopyBlogger. Most times you will find him on Twitter and at his
blog. Here is his response about sacrifices:
When I started my digital empire, I either had to suck it up and bust my ass or
face a lifetime of 6 month rotations to the Middle East. I chose the former,
and as a result, I spent more time on my business from 2008-09 than I did in
my previous 29 years combined. I never took time off...work became my life,
but it was OK because I was making progress and doing what I love.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
It takes time to build any business, but even though it's easy to shoestring
your way to success online, there's a lot of competition you have to bust
through. You need to spend time creating, studying, researching, testing,
networking, selling, marketing, and everything else that comes with building
a small business. If you can't afford to pay someone, then guess what...you're
doing it yourself until you can afford it.
I can remember going to bed at 2am and waking up at 5 during the week and
being at the desk from 7AM-7PM during the weekends. It's not pretty, but it
paid off.
These days, I could probably afford to slow down, but I'm not. I'm working my
ass off today so that I can relax tomorrow. Instead of slowing down, I've built
other small businesses on the side, and because of that, I'm 2 months away
from a lifetime of being self-employed. I wake up in the morning and no one
can tell me what to do...that's a remarkable feeling.
I don't wear a watch, and that's my favorite part.
-Nathan Hangen-
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse needs no introduction, probably for most of us; he was the first
influence we had (at least for me he was). The original ProBlogger was quick
to answer my email and talks about the sacrifices he made:
There are certainly no real short cuts when it comes to building a successful
blog. In the early days of my own blogging I was working a number of part
time jobs and studying at college during the day and blogging happened in the
evenings (and occasionally on lunch breaks). While it was enjoyable it took a
lot of time and energy to keep producing content after a long day of work.
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The key for me was daily posts that went beyond what everyone else was
writing (which makes you unique and more useful) - that takes time and
dedication as well as setting yourself deadlines and sticking to them - all for
little reward in the early days.
It's hard work but in the long run it really paid off for me both on a personal
level (it opened up doors to some wonderful interactions and relationships)
but also financially and in a business sense (daily interactions with readers
leads to trust and influence which in turn can be very profitable).
Don't expect quick and easy results - but persist and in time things will grow.
-Darren Rowse-
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Four Hour Sleep Week
Daniel Scocco
Next up is Daniel Scocco, who writes at Daily Blog Tips. He started developing
blogs and websites in 2005, and Daily Blog Tips is the place where he shares
what he learned along the way. The blog was nominated under the “Best Web
Development Blog” category in the 2007 Weblog Awards, and currently it is
ranked among the 500 most popular blogs in the world (according to
Technorati) and among the 100 most popular marketing blogs in the world
(according to AdvertisingAge).
Here is his answer to my question about sacrifices:
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Four Hour Sleep Week
When I started building my first blogs and websites I had a full time job, so I
would put most of the work at night and during the weekends. In other
words, there wasn't much time left for anything else.
After one year or so I decided to quit my full time job. Most people told me I
was crazy. I had a pretty good position considering my age (23 at the time),
and one of the vice-presidents came to talk to me personally, saying I could
start working more closely with him if I didn't leave. On top that the revenue
I was making with my websites was equal to 20% or so of my salary.
Yet I stayed firm with my decision. The first 12 months were tough, as there
was a lot of work with little financial gains. But I knew I was doing the right
thing, and after that period things started working, and the money came as a
consequence.
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David Risley
David Risley is probably one of my favorite bloggers right now. His site gives
you a no BS look at how to become successful, and he is constantly coming out
with great products to help up and comers. Here is David’s reply to my
question on sacrifices:
When I first started, I was a full-time student as well as had other things
going on. I even had a part-time job. I eeked out spare time to work on my
site. It was more of a hobby back then, but it was still making a little money
so it wasn't something I wanted to ignore.
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Four Hour Sleep Week
When I started looking at the prospect of graduation, I had to make a
decision... get a job or pursue this online thing full time? I did the latter
(obviously). At that point, my work schedule went through the roof. I was
living by myself, which made it easier. But, I would work pretty much all day,
staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning. Get up and do it again. I still had time
for other things, of course, but this was a business. I worked it and hustled.
Once your income depends on it, it is more than a hobby.
Life got more complicated. Today, I have a wife and two kids. I work from
around 8:30 to 6 every week day on my business. Sometimes I do stuff at
night, too, after the kids are in bed. I do work a lot - some weeks more than
others.
Funny thing, though, is that I don't look at it as a sacrifice. I love what I do.
But, it does demand time. No way to get around that one.
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Robb Sutton
Robb Sutton is an avid blogger, cyclist, online addict, photographer, the owner
of the oneninety8 blog network and whatever else life tends to throw his way.
Robb’s blog is here, he has other blogs as well, but I don’t mountain bike .
Here is what Robb replied when I asked him about sacrifices:
The biggest thing I had to give up to become a full time blogger was time.
There is a common misconception on the internet that blogging is all about
working for 2 hours and then just playing the rest of the day.
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Blogging for income is really no different than owning a brick and mortar
business. You do not just turn off your brain at 5 o'clock and head home. You
put in a lot of hours of work that no one ever sees at all hours of the night,
and while you are still working full time...you have to do this after hours
when you would normally relax.
If you really want to make a run at making a full time living online, you have
to be prepared to give up a lot of your leisure luxuries in the beginning with
the realization that you are working for financial and professional freedom in
the future. If this means you blog and work instead of watching your favorite
TV show of the week or sleeping in on the weekend, then you give that up to
realize your dream. Those that don't...are not willing to do what it takes.
Success comes through hard work...that will never change.
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James Richmond
James Richmond is a fast rising blogger over on TheInfopreneur. This guy
absolutely knows what it means to sacrifice, and he does it every day! Just try
keeping up with him! He just added a whole team of writers to his site, so the
content is coming out even faster than before! James emailed me about
sacrifice:
'Sacrifice is a word that should be called something else, like reality or
action. Sacrifice is something that people endure in war; sacrifice is
something you go through when a loved one is ill, it shouldn't exist in a
business.
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Giving up two hours of TV and an hour on Facebook every day isn't sacrifice,
it's called taking action! You absolutely have to put the hours in, Yeah I'd love
to work 4hrs a week and earn a great income, but I currently work closer
towards 100hrs a week, why? Because no one is going to do this for me.
I love my business and I love my family which is why I ditch TV, I close
youtube and facebook and actually do something productive. Keith is living
proof of working hard and he makes a full time income to support his young
family, put the hours in and you WILL get results.
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If you read back through all the bloggers that I interviewed, you will see a
common theme: HARD WORK!
There is nothing easy about building an online business, in any niche. I know
it, and these guys do too. The real question is, Do You?
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Gain Knowledge
If you change the way you are thinking, you have a chance to succeed. It will
take you having the will and determination to gain the knowledge you need in
order to succeed. You wouldn’t try to build a house having never done any
type of construction would you?
When I first started blogging in early 2008, I didn’t have a clue what social
media was. I was faced with 2 options, hire a consultant or spend time to
educate myself. I chose the latter option, and looking back I really wish I had
invested a few hundred bucks in getting the knowledge from a professional.
Instead, I chose to sacrifice, again.
I set out to learn everything I could about social media. Not just how to use it,
but how to use it so it would actually benefit my business. When I talk to
people that are struggling with social media, most of the time they are just
lacking the knowledge on how to use it properly.
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When I say “properly”, I am not saying there are “rules” to social media, but
there is a good and bad use of it. Most of the time, those that aren’t
benefitting from it are just lacking some basic methods.
I spent hours every day on social media sites, signing up for everyone that
popped up or was written about. While that took a huge portion of my time, I
was able to learn where my time was best spent. Some networks just don’t fit
within what I was trying to accomplish. After months of research and testing, I
was left with a few social media sites that I felt worked best for me. Since
then, I have added a couple more sites like YouTube, but most of my time
networking is done on Twitter and Facebook.
In order for you to find the ones that work best for your situation, you will
have to try them out. But, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to
refrain from ANY self promotion until you can gain a level of trust among
people you network with. That means that you need to spend time actually
getting to know your followers, have conversations with them, find out where
they blog and comment there, respond to every reply, and try NOT to send
links out over the network at first.
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I did the same thing with other social sites, finding places to bookmark my
articles, forums to post in, and chat rooms to mingle in was a very time
consuming process. I learned quite a bit from the experience though, and that
is invaluable education that you can only get from “getting your hands dirty”.
Depending on your niche, there are literally hundreds, maybe even thousands
of places to network online. Test them out, if they aren’t working you are
either doing something wrong, or they are not a good fit for your niche. A good
way to tell is if others in your niche are on these networks and achieving
success with them. If that is the case, then you are probably doing something
wrong.
I remember going to Tweet-Ups in Raleigh, NC and meeting some of the people
I was engaging with on Twitter. The funny part was, at the time my Twitter
handle was @thefencepost, so when I tried introducing myself as “Keith
Bloemendaal”, nobody knew me. But when I added “thefencepost on Twitter”
to my introduction, everyone remembered “that fence guy” on Twitter. I got
so many referrals from being on Twitter as a fence contractor, it really was
unbelievable.
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My competitors in that market still don’t use blogging or social media to
harness their businesses. For that matter, a lot of businesses in a lot of
markets aren’t doing it either. People remembered me because I was in a nontechnology field, and I was using Web 2.0 technologies to propel my business.
I remember doing an interview not long after I started my business with
Connie Benson (article here), and she was amazed at what I had learned, and
how I was managing my own community (Connie is a Community Manager). As
a small business, I had to manage my own community. I bought a smartphone
so I could keep up with my social media activities while I was out meeting with
customers (first one was a Palm, but I switched rather quickly to a
Blackberry).
I also got involved in other Social Networks, including a room on FriendFeed
that Darren Rowse started a couple years ago. I asked questions, and followed
advice. You know what? It worked! Darren even took one of my questions from
the room and made an article out of it! (The article is here). It isn’t that he
mentioned me on his blog (although I do admit I was really excited about it!) It
was that I was getting involved, asking questions, and getting answers. That is
called taking action folks! The answers won’t just appear, go get them!
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Establishing trust and authority in your niche should be a main goal in social
media. I know, some people will tell you that social media is for “having
conversations”; I say that is a bunch of bull! If I wanted to have a conversation
I would just text someone on my phone. Social media is much, much more
than that. Build trust and authority on your social media outlets, and you will
see the benefits in your sales. Sit around talking about what you had for lunch,
and you will get nothing from it (the same goes for shameless self promotion).
I have talked a lot about social media, but remember social media begins on
your blog. That is the hub of YOUR presence in social media. Most of the same
methods apply. Use your blog to build trust and authority. I can remember
competing for a project to build a fence, and the customer telling me that
they chose me, even though my price was higher, because of my blog. The
blog had so much valuable content that they felt more comfortable that I was
more qualified to do the job. Even if my competitor had been in business long
before me, the customer appreciated all the content and information I had
put on my blog. And, this didn’t happen just once, it happened every week!
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It wasn’t until almost a year into this that I realized I was a blogger, not just a
blogger, but a full time blogger. Yes I was still operating an offline business,
but I had hired crews to perform all the work. I was a blogger, and I was
blogging to get business. It was my ONLY advertising, and I didn’t see a need
to use any other advertising. I was literally operating on an advertising budget
that only included domain and hosting fees! During peak season I was earning
5 figures a month, with no advertising, and very little overhead. I only needed
a few thousand visitors a month to accomplish this! Try that with a made for
adsense site!
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Fast Forward
Fast forward to 2010, and I have become a pro-blogger. If you remember, I sold
the contracting business to pursue an online distributorship which is doing
extremely well after only 7 months. I purchased Hot Blog Tips in February 2010
so I could write about what I have learned about blogging as a business. I work
from home, where I still put in 80 hour weeks. And I currently have several
other online projects in development.
I sometimes ask myself how I got here, and after writing this eBook and going
through the old articles, I am humbled to have made it. But it wasn’t given to
me, I worked hard for it. And, even in the weeks that I took off to play golf or
travel, I still worked more than 4 hours a week! As a matter of fact, I
answered emails to customers from the golf course! So even when I am taking
time off I am working.
The point I am making here is that working long hours is pretty standard in this
industry, no different than most other industries if you want to be successful.
If you understand that from the start, it may change the actions you take in
the future.
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I didn’t cut my teeth in the “blogging” niche. Like most other professional
bloggers, I came from outside that niche. I see people talk about how you
should be writing about your passions, and while I agree that there should be
passion on your blog, you also should have a certain level of experience.
Combining passion with expertise is the perfect combination, but one without
the other is bound to fail! I have lots of passions, but I don’t have enough
experience in those passions to be a successful blogger with them. I love to
cook, but I am not a chef, I love smartphones, but I don’t know how they
operate, I love sports, but I am not into stats. I love blogging, and I make a
living doing it. I have experience in it. I am mostly self-taught. See my point?
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Sacrifice and Action
In case you haven’t noticed, there are 2 main themes in this book. They are
sacrifice and action. I made sacrifices, and I took action to create my own
success. That is the only way to do it as far as I am concerned. Sure,
occasionally people fall into something, but are you going to sit back and wait
for that to happen? I am not.
If you look over each one of the contributors that gave input for this book,
they all made sacrifices and took action to create a successful venture. If you
aren’t ready to do that, what do you think the chances of your success are? I
would guess that they would be pretty slim! What action are you taking? What
are you prepared to do? Are you prepared to shut that TV off, stop going to the
club on Friday nights, skip that concert, go out to dinner less? If you aren’t
then maybe you should re-think what direction you are headed in.
If you are reading this book, then you have already taken some action, and
you probably “want” to succeed. Hopefully after reading, you realize that
there isn’t just one thing that will get you that success you are looking for. It
takes a combination of many “actions” and “sacrifices”. Identify what is
holding you back and take action against it!
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If traffic is holding you back, then promote more. Get out there and comment
everywhere. Leave helpful comments that actually add value and people will
follow your link back to see what else you have to say. Get involved on social
media sites being helpful, people will start to listen. Link out more in your
posts! Trust me on this, linking out will not only help you build more links back
to you (oh…. Yes it will!), it will show that you are actually trying to help the
reader and not just horde them at your site. Besides, Google likes to see it!
Guest post more, it always helps to expand your readership. And don’t be
afraid to send your best stuff to a high traffic site for a guest post, remember
that you will be seen!
If time is holding you back, then make time! Cut out unnecessary activities
that don’t help your progress (that doesn’t include family or jobs). Create a
path to success by creating the time to take your action. Stop making excuses
and make something happen!
If knowledge is holding you back, then educate yourself! Find the information
you need and study. All the education you need is available through websites,
books, forums, membership sites, and even consulting. There is no excuse for
not having the education you need to press forward and be successful!
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In other words, there is absolutely NO reason that you can’t be successful.
Only you hold yourself back from achieving your goals.
Conclusion:
I hope you have enjoyed this book, and if you have ANY questions or
comments, please email me directly: [email protected]
If I can basically create an offline business purely through using a blog, then
you can achieve your dreams and goals with a blog. There is no easy route,
each one of the testimonials I gathered from people that are extremely
successful shows that they made sacrifices and took action. They had
determination and didn’t give up. I went 6mos basically making no money
living in my father in laws house while I did it. Do you think there wasn’t any
negativity surrounding my situation? If I can do it, anybody can….
Just remember:
Sacrifice + Action = Success
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